2017 ARIA Awards nominees: Gang Of Youths, Paul Kelly lead the pack

• Gang of Youths lead the nominations• Paul Kelly wins engineer of the year + best cover art• ARIA announces partnership with Apple Music for 2017 Awards

The countdown is on! With just seven weeks until the 2017 ARIA Awards, ARIA has announced the nominees in all categories and revealed a partnership with Apple Music.

The 2017 ARIA Awards will be held at The Star on Tuesday November 28, and will be broadcast nationally on Nine Network.

Also leading the nominations are Sydney five-piece Gang Of Youths with eight nominations. Paul Kelly received seven nominations, and was also announced as the winner of two Artisan ARIA Awards for Engineer Of The Year and Best Cover Art.

ARIA also welcomed Apple Music to the 2017 ARIA Awards, which include the return of two of the event’s most highly anticipated categories, Apple Music Song Of The Year and Apple Music Album Of The Year.

Denis Handlin AO, ARIA Chairman and Chairman and CEO of Sony Music Entertainment Australia and New Zealand and President, Asia, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Apple Music to offer Australian music fans a truly unique and memorable experience for the 31st Annual ARIA Award celebrations.

“I would also like to congratulate all of the winners announced today in the Fine Arts, Artisan and Best Comedy categories, as well as those artists nominated for the 2017 ARIA Awards with Apple Music.”

Dan Rosen, ARIA Chief Executive Officer, added: “2017 has been another remarkable year for Australian artists both at home and across the globe.

“The artists honoured today as winners in the Fine Arts, Artisan and Best Comedy categories show that the high quality of artistic achievement in the Australian music scene is spread across a wide range of genres.”

2017 ARIA Awards nominated artists

Apple Album Of The Year

A.B. Original for “Reclaim Australia” (Golden Era Records/Universal Music Australia)AmyShark for “Night Thinker” (Wonderlick Recording Company)GangOfYouths for “Go Farther In Lightness” (Mosy Recordings/Sony Music Australia)Illy for “Two Degrees” (ONETWO/Warner Music Australia)PaulKelly for “Life Is Fine” (EMI)

Best Male Artist

D.DDumbo for “Utopia Defeated” (Liberation Music)DanSultan for “Killer” (Liberation Music)Illy for “Two Degrees” (ONETWO/Warner Music Australia)PaulKelly for “Life Is Fine” (EMI)VanceJoy for “Lay It On Me” (Liberation Music)